The University of Texas at Arlington has appointed
Christian Zlolniski, an associate professor of anthropology and an expert in
international migration and economic globalization, as the director of the
University’s Center for Mexican American Studies.

Christian Zlolniski

Zlolniski joined UT Arlington in 2001 and served as a
research associate of the Center for more than 10 years. Previously, he spent
seven years as a researcher and social studies professor at El Colegio de la
Frontera Norte in Tijuana, Mexico. He also served as a fellow researcher for
two years in the University of California Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.

Zlolniski earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy
from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain. He holds a master’s and
doctoral degree in cultural anthropology from the University of California,
Santa Barbara.

“We are fortunate to have in Dr. Zlolniski, an
internationally-renowned scholar, a respected teacher and a valued mentor who
unites his efforts in all of these roles on behalf of the
wider community," said Beth Wright, dean of the UT Arlington College of
Liberal Arts. "He is committed to helping Mexican-American students
and their families – some of them the immigrant parents that he has studied for
decades – to succeed in their dreams of obtaining a college education.”

Wright noted that Zlolniski’s extensive experience with
the Center for Mexican American Studies has included such valued initiatives as
Maestros de la Comunidad, a series of workshops and conferences for
Spanish-speaking parents on public education, pre-college advising, and similar
subjects.

Zlolniski is a Fellow of the Society for Applied
Anthropology and the recipient of grants from the National Science Foundation,
the Wenner-Gren Foundation and a former member of the Sistema Nacional de
Investigadores under the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Mexico’s
government setting body in charge of the promotion of scientific and
technological activities.

He is the author of Janitors,Street Vendors and Activists: The Lives
of Mexican Immigrants in Silicon Valley (Berkeley and London: University of
California Press, 2006), which was honored by the International Migration
Section of the American Sociological Association and the Association of Latina
and Latino Anthropologists, as well as numerous scholarly articles, chapters
and policy papers. His contributions have been translated and published widely
in both English and Spanish.

“I am honored by the appointment and excited about the
opportunity it provides me to contribute to the growing Latino student
population at UT Arlington and the Latino community at large,” Zlolniski said.
“It took the effort of many committed people in the Mexican-American community
in the past to create and develop the Center, and my job is to ensure we reach
out and deliver to our Mexican American and Latina and Latino students, many of
whom are first of their generation going to college.”

The Center for Mexican American Studies was founded in
1993 by a legislative mandate promoted by Mexican American members of the Texas
Legislature and their supporters. CMAS is an academic unit in the College of
Liberal Arts dedicated to enhancing the study and understanding of Mexican
American and other Latino populations in the United States.

The center administers an 18-hour academic minor in
Mexican American Studies and annually awards three scholarships: the Manuel
Gamio Scholarship; the Brandenburg Scholarship for Mexican American Studies
Minors, and the Brandenburg Scholarship in Latino Studies in the College of
Liberal Arts.

Zlolniski will help lead the Center into a new direction
as it relocates later this year from the E. H. Hereford University Center to
the Swift Center on West Campus, where CMAS will join two other academic
centers – The Center for African American Studies and the Office of
International Education.

“Dr. Zlolniski’s global experience, influence and deeply
personal and cultural understanding of issues important to Mexican Americans
will establish the Center as a dynamic resource for scholarship, research and
community engagement, ” said Ron Elsenbaumer, UT Arlington provost and vice
president for academic affairs. “He is the ideal leader at a time when
immigration issues intersect with so many education, political, economic and
social discussions.”

Zlolniski succeeds Susan Gonzalez Baker, who will continue
as a member of the sociology and anthropology faculty.

The University of Texas at Arlington, a comprehensive
research institution of more than 33,000 students and more than 2,200 faculty
members in the heart of North Texas. It is the second largest institution in
The University of Texas System. Visit www.uta.edu to learn more.